The EIU view

We expect the president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, to remain in power in 2019-20, but the government's failure to tackle economic hardship has increased the risk of social unrest. The pick up in exports to China in 2018 may have eased some of the country's external imbalances. However, real GDP growth will remain weak in 2019-20, averaging 3.1%. Delays in the government's flagship infrastrcuture projects such as its gas pipeline to India are likely.

Country faces two more arbitration cases
These cases highlight the difficulty of doing business in Turkmenistan owing to an uncertain regulatory environment, and will act as a major deterrent to foreign investment.

Turkmen is the state language; Russian is widely spoken in the towns and Uzbek is spoken by the ethnic Uzbek minority, mainly in northern Turkmenistan

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES:

Metric system

CURRENCY:

Manat; redenominated in January 2009, at a rate of 5,000 old manat = 1 new manat. The manat was devalued by 18.6% on January 1st 2015, to a rate of Manat3.5:US$1

TIME:

Five hours ahead of GMT

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS:

January 1st (New Year's Day), January 12th (Memorial Day), March 8th (International Women's Day), March 21st-22nd (Spring holiday), May 9th (Victory Day), May 18th (Revival and Unity Day), June 15th (end of Ramadan), August 25th (Feast of Sacrifice), October 6th (Remembrance Day for the victims of the 1948 earthquake), September 27th (Independence Day), December 12th (Day of Neutrality of Turkmenistan)